


Worth It (Young Wizards)

by chicafrom3



Category: Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Afterlife, Choices, Friendship, Gen, Timeheart, challenge: myriadwords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-29
Updated: 2006-08-29
Packaged: 2017-10-18 03:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/184483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chicafrom3/pseuds/chicafrom3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nita finds her reasons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth It (Young Wizards)

**Author's Note:**

> Myriad Words Challenge #72. Time period: Six minutes to three AM. Characters: Nita and Fred.  
> Betaed by the fantastic paxluvfelicitas.

The sky was burning.

Nita observed this. She also observed that her shadow cast light, and everything around her seemed sharp and bright and almost too real to be borne. And she decided that she was quite obviously in Timeheart.

Almost on instinct, she looked around for her mother.

As she did, it hit her anew how much she and Kit and Dari had lost since gaining their wizardry. Roshaun and Ponch most recently, of course, and her mother most painfully; but also Qwelt and Picchu and Ed and—

 _Fred!_

The little spark of light danced merrily in front of her eyes. _Hi, Nita,_ he said, his "voice" amused. _I was wondering how long you'd take to notice me._

She cupped her hands around him affectionately. _Sorry, I was thinking._ She wondered, briefly, if she would find the Lotus parked on the curb, as the memories of her Ordeal came rushing back. _We haven't talked in a while._

 _I know._ The star emitted a small, rueful sound and bobbed against her hands. _You've been busy._

 _Saving the universe is hard work._

 _Is it worth it?_ Nita was positive there was a note of teasing to his question, and she remembered her first visit to the Heart of Time and smiled.

 _Go find out!_ she answered, laughing, and he laughed with her, a bright pattern of colors dancing up and down the spectrum.

They settled into a comfortable silence.

 _It's hard_ , she said thoughtfully after a moment. _And it hurts._

 _The best things do._ His light was small, almost negligible in the burning light of Timeheart, but reassuring. _It pays, though, doesn't it?_

She thought of Dari and Kit and her father, waiting for her at home.

She thought of Tom and Carl and their trust in her.

She thought of Ronan and the Winged Defender, brave and defiant and angry.

She thought of Joanne who hadn't bothered her in years, and Aunt Annie bargaining with the Sidhe.

She thought of Darryl and S'ree and the mobiles, Filif and Sker'ret and Roshaun and Carmela, stars and seas and other universes, the peridexis and Spot and the Hesper and even little Tualha…and she smiled. _Yes. Yes, it pays._

He brightened. _Then that's all that matters._

She let him go and he hovered in the air in front of her, looking like nothing so much as a bright will-o'-the-wisp. _Are you looking out for my mother?_ she asked. _And Kit's Lotus?_

 _As long as you keep looking out for Earth, and all that life._

 _Always,_ she promised. And then couldn't resist asking, just one last time, for old times' sake, _Is it confusing being dead?_

He laughed up and down the spectrum and didn't answer. _What's loved,_ he said instead, _lives_ , and she smiled.

 _I'll come back to talk to you soon, Fred_ , she promised, and slipped her hands around him again. And he started getting brighter and brighter and

When she wakes up, the clock on her bedside table blinks 2:54AM over and over again, and life feels more real and important than it has in a while.


End file.
